Why I Stopped Buying Fast Fashion

It was not a moral awakening so much as a slow exhaustion. I got tired of owning a lot and liking very little of it.

I used to buy clothes the way I checked my phone — often, absent-mindedly, and without much to show for it. My wardrobe was full and I still had nothing to wear, which is its own kind of poverty.

The change was not sudden. I simply started asking whether I would still want a thing in five years. Almost nothing survived the question, and the little that did was worth keeping.

Own less, but love what is left. It changes how you get dressed.

I buy maybe a handful of things a year now, and I wear all of them into the ground. It costs more per item and far less overall — and I like getting dressed for the first time in years.